Enter aloft SLY, with ATTENDANTS; some with apparel, basin
and ewer, and other appurtenances; and LORD
SLY. For God's sake, a pot of small ale.
FIRST SERVANT. Will't please your lordship drink a cup of sack?
SECOND SERVANT. Will't please your honour taste of these
conserves?
THIRD SERVANT. What raiment will your honour wear to-day? SLY. I am Christophero Sly; call not me 'honour' nor
'lordship.' I
ne'er drank sack in my life; and if you give me any
conserves,
give me conserves of beef. Ne'er ask me what raiment I'll
wear,
for I have no more doublets than backs, no more stockings
than
legs, nor no more shoes than feet- nay, sometime more feet
than
shoes, or such shoes as my toes look through the overleather.
LORD. Heaven cease this idle humour in your honour!
O, that a mighty man of such descent,
Of such possessions, and so high esteem,
Should be infused with so foul a spirit! SLY. What, would you make me mad? Am not I Christopher Sly, old
Sly's son of Burton Heath; by birth a pedlar, by education a
cardmaker, by transmutation a bear-herd, and now by present
profession a tinker? Ask Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of
Wincot, if she know me not; if she say I am not fourteen
pence on
the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lying'st knave
in
Christendom. What! I am not bestraught. [Taking a pot of
ale]
Here's-
THIRD SERVANT. O, this it is that makes your lady mourn!
SECOND SERVANT. O, this is it that makes your servants droop! LORD. Hence comes it that your kindred shuns your house,
As beaten hence by your strange lunacy.
O noble lord, bethink thee of thy birth!
Call home thy ancient thoughts from banishment,
And banish hence these abject lowly dreams.
Look how thy servants do attend on thee,
Each in his office ready at thy beck.
Wilt thou have music? Hark! Apollo plays, [Music]
And twenty caged nightingales do sing.
Or wilt thou sleep? We'll have thee to a couch
Softer and sweeter than the lustful bed
On purpose trimm'd up for Semiramis.
Say thou wilt walk: we will bestrew the ground.
Or wilt thou ride? Thy horses shall be trapp'd,
Their harness studded all with gold and pearl.
Dost thou love hawking? Thou hast hawks will soar
Above the morning lark. Or wilt thou hunt?
Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them
And fetch shall echoes from the hollow earth.
FIRST SERVANT. Say thou wilt course; thy greyhounds are as
swift
As breathed stags; ay, fleeter than the roe.
SECOND SERVANT. Dost thou love pictures? We will fetch thee
straight
Adonis painted by a running brook,
And Cytherea all in sedges hid,
Which seem to move and wanton with her breath
Even as the waving sedges play wi' th' wind.
LORD. We'll show thee lo as she was a maid
And how she was beguiled and surpris'd,
As lively painted as the deed was done.
THIRD SERVANT. Or Daphne roaming through a thorny wood,
Scratching her legs, that one shall swear she bleeds
And at that sight shall sad Apollo weep,
So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn. LORD. Thou art a lord, and nothing but a lord.
Thou hast a lady far more beautiful
Than any woman in this waning age.
FIRST SERVANT. And, till the tears that she hath shed for thee
Like envious floods o'er-run her lovely face,
She was the fairest creature in the world;
And yet she is inferior to none.
SLY. Am I a lord and have I such a lady?
Or do I dream? Or have I dream'd till now?
I do not sleep: I see, I hear, I speak;
I smell sweet savours, and I feel soft things.
Upon my life, I am a lord indeed,
And not a tinker, nor Christopher Sly.
Well, bring our lady hither to our sight;
And once again, a pot o' th' smallest ale.
SECOND SERVANT. Will't please your Mightiness to wash your
hands?
O, how we joy to see your wit restor'd!
O, that once more you knew but what you are!
These fifteen years you have been in a dream;
Or, when you wak'd, so wak'd as if you slept.
SLY. These fifteen years! by my fay, a goodly nap.
But did I never speak of all that time?
FIRST SERVANT. O, yes, my lord, but very idle words;
For though you lay here in this goodly chamber,
Yet would you say ye were beaten out of door;
And rail upon the hostess of the house,
And say you would present her at the leet,
Because she brought stone jugs and no seal'd quarts.
Sometimes you would call out for Cicely Hacket.
SLY. Ay, the woman's maid of the house.
THIRD SERVANT. Why, sir, you know no house nor no such maid,
Nor no such men as you have reckon'd up,
As Stephen Sly, and old John Naps of Greece,
And Peter Turph, and Henry Pimpernell;
And twenty more such names and men as these,
Which never were, nor no man ever saw.
SLY. Now, Lord be thanked for my good amends!
ALL. Amen.
Enter the PAGE as a lady, with ATTENDANTS
SLY. I thank thee; thou shalt not lose by it.
PAGE. How fares my noble lord?
SLY. Marry, I fare well; for here is cheer enough.
Where is my wife?
PAGE. Here, noble lord; what is thy will with her?
SLY. Are you my wife, and will not call me husband?
My men should call me 'lord'; I am your goodman.
PAGE. My husband and my lord, my lord and husband;
I am your wife in all obedience.
SLY. I know it well. What must I call her?
LORD. Madam.
SLY. Al'ce madam, or Joan madam?
LORD. Madam, and nothing else; so lords call ladies.
SLY. Madam wife, they say that I have dream'd
And slept above some fifteen year or more.
PAGE. Ay, and the time seems thirty unto me,
Being all this time abandon'd from your bed.
SLY. 'Tis much. Servants, leave me and her alone.
Exeunt SERVANTS Madam, undress you, and come now to bed.
PAGE. Thrice noble lord, let me entreat of you
To pardon me yet for a night or two;
Or, if not so, until the sun be set.
For your physicians have expressly charg'd,
In peril to incur your former malady,
That I should yet absent me from your bed.
I hope this reason stands for my excuse.
SLY. Ay, it stands so that I may hardly tarry so long. But I
would
be loath to fall into my dreams again. I will therefore tarry
in
despite of the flesh and the blood.
Enter a MESSENGER
MESSENGER. Your honour's players, hearing your amendment,
Are come to play a pleasant comedy;
For so your doctors hold it very meet,
Seeing too much sadness hath congeal'd your blood,
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy.
Therefore they thought it good you hear a play
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.
SLY. Marry, I will; let them play it. Is not a comonty a
Christmas gambold or a tumbling-trick?
PAGE. No, my good lord, it is more pleasing stuff.
SLY. What, household stuff?
PAGE. It is a kind of history.
SLY. Well, we'll see't. Come, madam wife, sit by my side and
let
the world slip;-we shall ne'er be younger.
[They sit down]
A flourish of trumpets announces the play
Christopher Sly is saying he was never a lord and never will be. He was telling the servants that he never had any of those rich and fancy things in his life.
Christopher Sly thought that he was going mad. He asked is he not the son of burton heath, which was a town close to stratford, where shakespeare grew up. Shakespeare made a joke out of the town's name. Then he said to ask the marion hacket, the lady whose glasses he broke, and sh'ell tell them that he's a beggar.
The Real Lord, who is an attendant, asks sly if he'd like him to fetch his hounds and horses for him so that he may go on the hunt. Then he told Sly he was just having dreams and he was pointing out how the servants were ready to do whatever he wanted.
The Lord tells Sly he is a lord with a beautiful lady. Then, the first servant says she was mourning for you the entire time. Then Sly started believing because he wanted to see this "beautiful" lady.
Sly tells his "lady" to undress and come "lay" in bed with him. The "lady" says if i get you excited you might go into another one of those dreams and then you will be asleep again.
Sly tells the servants that he isnt a lord he never drank sack and that he doesnt need any one to pick out his clothes caus ehe only has one pair
Sly is denying that he is a lord and explains all these things about what he is used to having, and explaining where he is from, who his parents are etc.
The page, dressed as Sly's wife, is saying that she will be glad to go to bed with him, but he will have to wait because she is so overjoyed from seeing that Sly is better over his sickness.
The lord and the servants finally convince Sly that he is a lord and Sly is accepting that he is a lord. He is now willing to meet his Lady.
When the second servant and third servant speak about 1/4 the way down(after the 2nd HL Text) what are they saying. They say about his lady mourning, but over what?
Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them And fetch shall echoes from the hollow earth, What does that mean, especially welkin and the part after the and. I'm lost on what they're saying.
Why is sly denying being a lord when they are offering him such nice things? Since he is used to being poor you think he would accept all he could get.
The servants are talking about saying that sly, who is supposed to be a lord, has been sick and it has been making his wife and servants sad and depressed. this is to convince sly further that he is a lord. It extends the well thought out prank.
That is a good point that, you would think sly would take all he can get but maybe he thinks he's being framed into taking all this stuff. He might think he's going to be pinned with thievery or something later on if he accepts it all.
Personally i believe that the line beginning with thy hounds refers to his dogs during a hunt. in the book "Taming of the Shrew" welkin is referred to as the sky. I believe the meaning of this line is that when the dogs will bark to the sky like a wolf howling to the moon. The noise will travel across the earth, and will be answered with the shrieks of the animals they wish to prey upon.
A bedchamber in the LORD'S house
Enter aloft SLY, with ATTENDANTS; some with apparel, basin
and ewer, and other appurtenances; and LORD
SLY. For God's sake, a pot of small ale.
FIRST SERVANT. Will't please your lordship drink a cup of sack?
SECOND SERVANT. Will't please your honour taste of these
conserves?
THIRD SERVANT. What raiment will your honour wear to-day?
SLY. I am Christophero Sly; call not me 'honour' nor
'lordship.' I
ne'er drank sack in my life; and if you give me any
conserves,
give me conserves of beef. Ne'er ask me what raiment I'll
wear,
for I have no more doublets than backs, no more stockings
than
legs, nor no more shoes than feet- nay, sometime more feet
than
shoes, or such shoes as my toes look through the overleather.
LORD. Heaven cease this idle humour in your honour!
O, that a mighty man of such descent,
Of such possessions, and so high esteem,
Should be infused with so foul a spirit!
SLY. What, would you make me mad? Am not I Christopher Sly, old
Sly's son of Burton Heath; by birth a pedlar, by education a
cardmaker, by transmutation a bear-herd, and now by present
profession a tinker? Ask Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of
Wincot, if she know me not; if she say I am not fourteen
pence on
the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lying'st knave
in
Christendom. What! I am not bestraught. [Taking a pot of
ale]
Here's-
THIRD SERVANT. O, this it is that makes your lady mourn!
SECOND SERVANT. O, this is it that makes your servants droop!
LORD. Hence comes it that your kindred shuns your house,
As beaten hence by your strange lunacy.
O noble lord, bethink thee of thy birth!
Call home thy ancient thoughts from banishment,
And banish hence these abject lowly dreams.
Look how thy servants do attend on thee,
Each in his office ready at thy beck.
Wilt thou have music? Hark! Apollo plays, [Music]
And twenty caged nightingales do sing.
Or wilt thou sleep? We'll have thee to a couch
Softer and sweeter than the lustful bed
On purpose trimm'd up for Semiramis.
Say thou wilt walk: we will bestrew the ground.
Or wilt thou ride? Thy horses shall be trapp'd,
Their harness studded all with gold and pearl.
Dost thou love hawking? Thou hast hawks will soar
Above the morning lark. Or wilt thou hunt?
Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them
And fetch shall echoes from the hollow earth.
FIRST SERVANT. Say thou wilt course; thy greyhounds are as
swift
As breathed stags; ay, fleeter than the roe.
SECOND SERVANT. Dost thou love pictures? We will fetch thee
straight
Adonis painted by a running brook,
And Cytherea all in sedges hid,
Which seem to move and wanton with her breath
Even as the waving sedges play wi' th' wind.
LORD. We'll show thee lo as she was a maid
And how she was beguiled and surpris'd,
As lively painted as the deed was done.
THIRD SERVANT. Or Daphne roaming through a thorny wood,
Scratching her legs, that one shall swear she bleeds
And at that sight shall sad Apollo weep,
So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn.
LORD. Thou art a lord, and nothing but a lord.
Thou hast a lady far more beautiful
Than any woman in this waning age.
FIRST SERVANT. And, till the tears that she hath shed for thee
Like envious floods o'er-run her lovely face,
She was the fairest creature in the world;
And yet she is inferior to none.
SLY. Am I a lord and have I such a lady?
Or do I dream? Or have I dream'd till now?
I do not sleep: I see, I hear, I speak;
I smell sweet savours, and I feel soft things.
Upon my life, I am a lord indeed,
And not a tinker, nor Christopher Sly.
Well, bring our lady hither to our sight;
And once again, a pot o' th' smallest ale.
SECOND SERVANT. Will't please your Mightiness to wash your
hands?
O, how we joy to see your wit restor'd!
O, that once more you knew but what you are!
These fifteen years you have been in a dream;
Or, when you wak'd, so wak'd as if you slept.
SLY. These fifteen years! by my fay, a goodly nap.
But did I never speak of all that time?
FIRST SERVANT. O, yes, my lord, but very idle words;
For though you lay here in this goodly chamber,
Yet would you say ye were beaten out of door;
And rail upon the hostess of the house,
And say you would present her at the leet,
Because she brought stone jugs and no seal'd quarts.
Sometimes you would call out for Cicely Hacket.
SLY. Ay, the woman's maid of the house.
THIRD SERVANT. Why, sir, you know no house nor no such maid,
Nor no such men as you have reckon'd up,
As Stephen Sly, and old John Naps of Greece,
And Peter Turph, and Henry Pimpernell;
And twenty more such names and men as these,
Which never were, nor no man ever saw.
SLY. Now, Lord be thanked for my good amends!
ALL. Amen.
Enter the PAGE as a lady, with ATTENDANTS
SLY. I thank thee; thou shalt not lose by it.
PAGE. How fares my noble lord?
SLY. Marry, I fare well; for here is cheer enough.
Where is my wife?
PAGE. Here, noble lord; what is thy will with her?
SLY. Are you my wife, and will not call me husband?
My men should call me 'lord'; I am your goodman.
PAGE. My husband and my lord, my lord and husband;
I am your wife in all obedience.
SLY. I know it well. What must I call her?
LORD. Madam.
SLY. Al'ce madam, or Joan madam?
LORD. Madam, and nothing else; so lords call ladies.
SLY. Madam wife, they say that I have dream'd
And slept above some fifteen year or more.
PAGE. Ay, and the time seems thirty unto me,
Being all this time abandon'd from your bed.
SLY. 'Tis much. Servants, leave me and her alone.
Exeunt SERVANTS
Madam, undress you, and come now to bed.
PAGE. Thrice noble lord, let me entreat of you
To pardon me yet for a night or two;
Or, if not so, until the sun be set.
For your physicians have expressly charg'd,
In peril to incur your former malady,
That I should yet absent me from your bed.
I hope this reason stands for my excuse.
SLY. Ay, it stands so that I may hardly tarry so long. But I
would
be loath to fall into my dreams again. I will therefore tarry
in
despite of the flesh and the blood.
Enter a MESSENGER
MESSENGER. Your honour's players, hearing your amendment,
Are come to play a pleasant comedy;
For so your doctors hold it very meet,
Seeing too much sadness hath congeal'd your blood,
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy.
Therefore they thought it good you hear a play
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.
SLY. Marry, I will; let them play it. Is not a comonty a
Christmas gambold or a tumbling-trick?
PAGE. No, my good lord, it is more pleasing stuff.
SLY. What, household stuff?
PAGE. It is a kind of history.
SLY. Well, we'll see't. Come, madam wife, sit by my side and
let
the world slip;-we shall ne'er be younger.
[They sit down]
A flourish of trumpets announces the play
Christopher Sly thought that he was going mad. He asked is he not the son of burton heath, which was a town close to stratford, where shakespeare grew up. Shakespeare made a joke out of the town's name. Then he said to ask the marion hacket, the lady whose glasses he broke, and sh'ell tell them that he's a beggar.
The Real Lord, who is an attendant, asks sly if he'd like him to fetch his hounds and horses for him so that he may go on the hunt. Then he told Sly he was just having dreams and he was pointing out how the servants were ready to do whatever he wanted.
The Lord tells Sly he is a lord with a beautiful lady. Then, the first servant says she was mourning for you the entire time. Then Sly started believing because he wanted to see this "beautiful" lady.
Sly tells his "lady" to undress and come "lay" in bed with him. The "lady" says if i get you excited you might go into another one of those dreams and then you will be asleep again.
Sly tells the servants that he isnt a lord he never drank sack and that he doesnt need any one to pick out his clothes caus ehe only has one pair
Sly is denying that he is a lord and explains all these things about what he is used to having, and explaining where he is from, who his parents are etc.
The page, dressed as Sly's wife, is saying that she will be glad to go to bed with him, but he will have to wait because she is so overjoyed from seeing that Sly is better over his sickness.
The lord and the servants finally convince Sly that he is a lord and Sly is accepting that he is a lord. He is now willing to meet his Lady.
Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them And fetch shall echoes from the hollow earth, What does that mean, especially welkin and the part after the and. I'm lost on what they're saying.
Why is sly denying being a lord when they are offering him such nice things? Since he is used to being poor you think he would accept all he could get.
That is a good point that, you would think sly would take all he can get but maybe he thinks he's being framed into taking all this stuff. He might think he's going to be pinned with thievery or something later on if he accepts it all.
Personally i believe that the line beginning with thy hounds refers to his dogs during a hunt. in the book "Taming of the Shrew" welkin is referred to as the sky. I believe the meaning of this line is that when the dogs will bark to the sky like a wolf howling to the moon. The noise will travel across the earth, and will be answered with the shrieks of the animals they wish to prey upon.